What's funny about that is that somebody circled the guy looking into the muzzle of his rifle. There's nothing wrong with that; it's the only way to tell if your barrel is clean. What he should have circled is that the guy is doing it with a magazine in the rifle, which could conceivably have ammunition in it. _________________Deja Moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before

What's funny about that is that somebody circled the guy looking into the muzzle of his rifle. There's nothing wrong with that; it's the only way to tell if your barrel is clean. What he should have circled is that the guy is doing it with a magazine in the rifle, which could conceivably have ammunition in it. :lol:

That's what I thought, but from that angle, I wasn't 100% certain he had the magazine inserted. The other visible magazine appears larger._________________lolgov. 'cause where we're going, you don't have civil liberties.

What's funny about that is that somebody circled the guy looking into the muzzle of his rifle. There's nothing wrong with that; it's the only way to tell if your barrel is clean. What he should have circled is that the guy is doing it with a magazine in the rifle, which could conceivably have ammunition in it.

There is no magazine and afaict there is no mechanism to fire a round in place. He doesn't even have the bolt carrier and top cover in place (compare with upright and fully assembled rifle on the left). The worst he could do is poke himself in the eye with the flame suppressor. Or maybe leave the cleaning oil in and pour it into his eye while tilting the barrel to look into it.

You still have to look down the barrel to see if it's clean, so I'm not sure what your point is. Before you do that, to let light in, you lock the bolt to the rear. To make sure you don't shoot yourself in the head, you make sure there's no round in the chamber and no magazine in the well.

Actually, although I have fired them a couple of times before, I don't recall much about how AK's function; it's possible, although quite unlikely I think, that you need a magazine in the well to lock the bolt to the rear.

I've seen people do worse things. One very common thing to see is a bunch of tired soldiers sitting in the bleachers getting a range safety briefing, and one or two will have their chin resting on the muzzle of their rifle (like Corporal Clusterfuck appears to be doing here, 2nd row from the back on the far right)._________________Deja Moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before

What's funny about that is that somebody circled the guy looking into the muzzle of his rifle. There's nothing wrong with that; it's the only way to tell if your barrel is clean. What he should have circled is that the guy is doing it with a magazine in the rifle, which could conceivably have ammunition in it.

There is no magazine and afaict there is no mechanism to fire a round in place. He doesn't even have the bolt carrier and top cover in place (compare with upright and fully assembled rifle on the left).

You have better eyes that I do. I believe you are right, now that I look closer. It looks like he might have the whole gas tube assembly off. What I took for a magazine was the pistol grip, apparently.

arttuv wrote:

The worst he could do is poke himself in the eye with the flame suppressor. Or maybe leave the cleaning oil in and pour it into his eye while tilting the barrel to look into it.

We call it a "flash suppressor" in English. My main point is that it's not at all unusual or wrong to see somebody looking down their barrel like that, provided they've made sure it's not loaded. It's a necessary part of cleaning a rifle._________________Deja Moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before

You have better eyes that I do. I believe you are right, now that I look closer. It looks like he might have the whole gas tube assembly off. What I took for a magazine was the pistol grip, apparently.

I'm just a lowly reservist in a country with a conscript army which uses AK47 derivatives. Removing the gas tube and all the moving parts ("receiver"?) is what was taught to us as the proper cleaning procedure of the rifles. Because residue gets stuck also all over the insides of the gas tube, not just inside the barrel.

But as notageek sort of hinted, you just gotta love the design. It's like something stolen from the Germans, with a hint of Lego, and molded in steel. So, taking it all apart is not a problem, it's damn easy and quick. As is putting it back together.

Quote:

My main point is that it's not at all unusual or wrong to see somebody looking down their barrel like that, provided they've made sure it's not loaded. It's a necessary part of cleaning a rifle.

Yeah, I knew that. Just needed to show/goof off.

For a clueless civilian it must look like the person is attempting a suicide.

It's not the same design as the AR-15. It has an actual gas piston where the AR-15 does not. This makes the AR-15 lighter, but the actual propellant gas goes all the way into the receiver. In the AK, it only goes as far as the gas piston. As a result, you have to do more cleaning of the AR-15 (the receiver gets all carboned up). The consequently heavier AK has a comparably important requirement in that the gas port and piston mechanism (as I understand it) requires occasional cleaning, although it is less problematic than the grunge that gets into the AR-15's receiver. It's a tradeoff.

If I were in a heavy, continuous operation that wouldn't give me time to clean my weapon once a day or so (especially in a dusty or cold environment), I'd rather carry the AK-74. Otherwise, I'd rather carry the AR-15._________________Deja Moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before

A touch hole is the little hole on the back of an old-style cannon where you touched a match to set it off. It became slang for "ass hole". Maybe I was mistaken in concatenating it into "touchole"._________________Deja Moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before

Oh, OK. I saw the cannon reference, and wondered, but didn't see anything else. I assumed that's what you were referring to (pun intended)._________________lolgov. 'cause where we're going, you don't have civil liberties.